


Anomaly

by rekabel



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, One Shot, good luck charms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 15:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14523657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rekabel/pseuds/rekabel
Summary: Lee Jeno was an anomalyBut being the only one who didn’t abide by the rules of the world, came with some unexpected perks





	Anomaly

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of this concept in a dream, so I don't even know if it makes sense lol but anyway here's more soft nomin bc nomin makes me soft

Jeno watched all his friends discover their good luck charms as they grew up. Whether it was Renjun’s gold link bracelet, the small stuffed chick Jisung had, or even the black, oversized band shirt Mark owned. Even his best friend Jaemin had discovered his good luck charm.

It was just a week before Jaemin’s 13th birthday when the bad luck started. Jeno watched his best friend trip over flat surfaces, fail tests, drop things immediately after picking them up and even twist his ankle during a dance lesson. The day before his birthday, Jaemin fell onto his bed with a huff

“I really can’t deal with this anymore” He groaned “How did Mark do this for three weeks?”

Jeno shrugged, because honestly, he had no idea. The burst of bad luck that always came before finding your charm was different for everyone. Sometimes it only lasted a few days, sometimes it lasted months. Some people could barely function while others saw minimal effects.

It would turn out that Jaemin’s good luck charm came in the form of a Super Junior key chain Jeno gave him for his birthday the next day. Ever since then Jaemin carried the key chain around on his school bags.

Most people found their good luck charms earlier in life. However, Lee Jeno wasn’t most people. Jeno was an anomaly. At 15 years old, he still never found his good luck charm. He hadn’t even experienced his wave of bad luck yet either. His mother would reassure him saying that he was still young, and there was plenty of time. It became harder to believe when everyone around him had secured their charms. Even Zhong Chenle who was younger than Jeno had found his charm before Jeno had.

Eventually, Jeno was convinced he didn’t have a good luck charm

“That’s crazy” Jaemin would tell him “ _Everyone_ has a good luck charm. That’s just how the world works”

Unfortunately, the world worked in mysterious ways. Finding your good luck charm didn’t make you invincible, as Na Jaemin would come to find out. Just after Jeno and Jaemin had entered high school, Jaemin suffered a serious injury. He had to be taken out of school to be given time to recover.

A week later, the world stopped hating Lee Jeno

When he walked into his classroom, Jeno tripped on the strap of Donghyuck’s book bag. In a panicked attempt to catch himself, Jeno shoots his arm out to grab onto Renjun’s desk. Except he terribly miscalculates, hits the water bottle off Renjun’s desk, where it lands on the floor, top popping off, and soaking Jeno as he hits the floor.

The other kids in the class immediately erupt into laughter, save for Renjun and Donghyuck, who look down at Jeno, eyes wide and mouths slack. Jeno takes in their shocked expressions and jumps up quickly

“It’s nothing, just tired” he blurts sitting behind Renjun quickly

“I don’t know Jeno, seems like back luck to me-“ Donghyuck laughs

“It’s nothing” Jeno says quickly.

It turns out to definitely be something. Later the same day, Jeno had the worst basketball practice of his life. He trips, he fouls, he misses shots, he flakes on passes, and he even gets knocked hard in the stomach trying to receive one of Mark’s passes.

“Well, I guess this is what you wanted” Mark sighs, sitting next to Jeno after guiding him to the bench.

“This isn’t at all what I wanted” Jeno breathes out still holding his stomach

“At least you’re going to find you’re charm right?” Mark shrugs.

 

* * *

 

Jeno calls Jaemin to tell him the news as soon as he gets home

“ _That’s great_!” Jaemin almost screams from the other end

“I made myself look like a fool Nana!” Jeno argues

Jaemin laughs brightly “ _Oh stop worrying. It happens to everyone, even Lee Jeno_ ”

“Yeah, of course as soon as my best friend disappears, the world decides to get even with me” Jeno mumbles

“ _Don’t worry Jen, I’ll be back before you know it!_ ” Jeno can tell just by his voice that Jaemin is smiling wide in his hospital bed

“I hope you get better soon Nana” Jeno flops back onto his bed

Jaemin hums in agreement “ _The doctor says I’ll need to do physical therapy for at least 8 months after I recover enough_ ”

Jeno shoots back up to a sitting position “8 months!” he cries

“ _It’s… not looking to great Jeno. They’re saying it might take up to 16 weeks before I can start recovery”_ The smile is gone from his voice

Jeno blinks at the tear forming in his eyes “Does it hurt?” It’s a stupid question, he knows

“ _Yah I’m not some delicate flower Lee Jeno”_ Jaemin bites back

It’s just what Jeno needs to hear as a smile tugs at his mouth

“Ah, it’ll suck without you Nana” Jeno groans

Jaemin laughs again “ _You’ll call me right? And when you get your charm, you have to come show me!_ ”

Jeno’s smile deepens “Of Course”

 

* * *

 

Lee Jeno is an anomaly

The bad luck is supposed to be short-term. Jeno spends and entire year fighting it. He has to quit the basketball team after costing them ten consecutive matches. He stops dancing after nearly dislocating his knee. He drops out of every advance class he had been taking and is only barely passing school.

Sometimes late at night, when he can’t sleep, and tears are falling down his cheeks, he’ll call Jaemin. The other boy was so busy with doctor’s appointments, and therapy, and family things that Jeno hadn’t seen him since he was admitted to hospital. Turns out, the injury was severe enough that Jaemin was transferred to a bigger hospital in the city a few months after Jeno’s bad luck started.

His friends started acting weirder around him since he had accidently smacked Donghyuck in the face wrestling his locker door open. He had certainly become the talk of the school. People regarded Jeno like he had a big, red, flashing DANGER! Sign floating above him. He was angry, frustrated, sad and even scared. It was one thing to not have a good luck charm, but Jeno never stopped thinking of the looming possibility that not having a good luck charm meant eternal bad luck.

He was 16 now. Not having a good luck charm by now was almost unheard of. He had been gifted countless new things by his friends and family in the hopes that one of them would end up saving Jeno from his personal hell, but none of them ever did.

 

* * *

 

Jaemin comes back four months later. Jeno cries when he sees him, despite it being when Jaemin walks into their classroom 20 minutes late. He was angry at first the Jaemin hadn’t told him he had even been planning on coming back soon, but Jaemin assures him it was only to surprise Jeno when he finally was able to come back.

Jeno dwells only for a second on the thought that it could be his bad luck starting to let up, but of course, he still didn’t have a good luck charm.

At lunch they gather at the basketball courts outside of school. Mark and his team have the regional championship game in a few days, and the older boy takes any free time he had to practice. Today, they all pitch in and have a 3 on 3 game. Jeno sits out. He stands, leaning back on a tree watching his friends run around the court. It had been so long since he played basketball, his heart drops seeing them laugh and smile.

As expected, the team of Mark, Jaemin and Chenle wins over Renjun, Jisung and Donghyuck. They high five, and congratulate each other on the victory. Jaemin meets his eyes after hugging Mark and makes his way over to his best friend. From the edge of the court, Jaemin throws the basketball to Jeno

“Why don’t you try?” He asks

Jeno laughs bitterly and throws the ball back to Jaemin “I don’t play basketball anymore, remember?”

Jaemin looks down at the ball in his hands. After a few seconds he throws it back to Jeno

“Why not?”

Frustration starts boiling inside of Jeno and he throws the ball back at Jaemin a little harder than the last time

“Because I can’t even touch the ball without making a mistake!” He bites

Again, Jaemin looks at the ball in his hands. Jeno balls his hands in fists when Jaemin looks up and _smiles_

“You’re doing pretty good to me” He says brightly

The realization crashes over Jeno like a wave and his fists unclench. He’s staring wide eyed and open mouthed at Jaemin. Not only had he just successfully passed the ball straight to Jaemin twice, he had caught it himself twice.

The bell rings before either of them can say anymore

 

* * *

 

Three days later, everyone is in awe. Jeno hasn’t tripped once, he hasn’t dropped his tray of food on the floor, he hasn’t run into the lockers, or banged his head on his desk, in fact, nothing bad has happened to Jeno, and people are starting to notice.

On the third day he’s bombarded with question as soon as he sits down at their lunch table

“Look guys, I wish I had something to tell you but I don’t!” He says

“You really can’t think of anything you got in the past three days that could be your charm” Renjun asks, sounding unconvinced

 Of course Jeno had already been through this with himself. He retraced every step he took in the past three days to find anything that could hint at being his good luck charm, but nothing came up.

“Maybe the world realized how pathetic you looked and took pity on you” Donghyuck teased.

Jeno runs to the gym as soon as the school day ends. He bursts through the doors, startling some of the boys inside

“I want to join to team again!” He announces to his basketball coach who is looking at him with a dumbstruck expression.

As captain, Mark defends Jeno’s case. He tries reasoning with the coach about how Jeno’s luck has suddenly changed, but no matter what Mark says, the man shakes his head

“It’s too risky” he says “We don’t know what’s going on with Jeno and tomorrow is a very important game!”

“I’ll prove it to you” Jeno says stubbornly, dropping his book bag to the floor.

He grabs a ball from the rack and stands at center court. He takes in a deep breath, and throws the basketball hard. It hits off the backboard lightly and falls directly into the basket. The boys on the bench kick up a racket cheering and shouting. Jeno stands still, shocked himself. He turns back to his coach with pleading eyes

“please just let me practice today, you don’t have to play me in the game tomorrow I promise, just let me be on the team I beg you”

The coach looks over at Mark once, before nodding

 

* * *

 

The day of the game, Jeno can’t sit still. He bounces his leg nervously all through his afternoon classes, and Jaemin has to stop him from biting his nails four times. Even if they had agreed to not play Jeno unless extenuating circumstances, he still felt the pre-game nerves he missed so much.

He almost cries when he pulls his jersey over his head for the first time in a year and a half. Mark pulls him into a tight hug as soon as they step out onto the court. He looks out and sees their friends sitting in the bleachers and cheering loudly. Jeno smiles wide as he feels his life coming back together again

The match isn’t easy. The two teams are very evenly matched, and the score constantly flips from one side to the other. By the end of the third quarter, their team is only up by 2 baskets. Just like they promised, Jeno hasn’t played for a single second. He didn’t think it would make him as agitated as it did. His hands itched for the ball again, and his feet vibrated with energy. Halfway through the last quarter the opposing team ties the game. Mark calls a time out

Jeno springs up when they all gather

“Let me play” he begs

The team looks at him skeptically

“Please, I can do it!” He tries

Mark glances around the circle, landing finally on the coach

“What’s there to lose?” He shrugs

At the blow of the whistle, Jeno takes his first steps onto the basketball court since his bad luck suddenly disappears. He can hear Jaemin cheering over everyone else

He never misses a pass, he never trips over his feet, and he never takes a foul, and in the last 30 seconds of the game, he scores a 3-pointer pushing them into the lead.

30 seconds later, he wins his first basketball game in almost 2 years.

He yells so loud his throat burns. He practically jumps into Mark as they embrace. The gymnasium is absolutely alive with noise. As soon as he pulls away from Mark, Jaemin almost knocks him to the ground with the force of his hug

“You did it, you did it” He chants into Jeno’s shoulder, nearly squeezing the life out of him.

And suddenly, it hits Jeno like a tonne of bricks

He pulls back and holds Jaemin by the shoulders

“It’s you” he says breathlessly.

He thinks by the confused look on Jaemin’s face that the boy doesn’t hear him, until his eyes widen

“It’s you Nana” Jeno says, a smile breaking out on his face “You’re my good luck charm”

It’s not like he expects Jaemin to not believe him, but he really doesn’t expect Jaemin to burst into tears and hide his face in Jeno’s shoulder

“H-how is that p-possible” he manages between sobs

“I don’t know” He admits

It couldn’t be anything else. Jaemin had always been a part of Jeno’s life, even since they were small children. Jeno never had to find his good luck charm because it was always with him, until Jaemin got hurt. Once Jaemin had disappeared from Jeno’s everyday life, the bad luck started, and it wasn’t until Jaemin’s unannounced return that the bad luck stopped.

There’s such a strong build up of emotion inside of Jeno at the thought of not only finding his good luck charm after his whole life thinking the world hated him, but for it to be _Na Jaemin_ the single greatest thing in his life, that he pulls back from Jaemin again and looks him in the eyes. Even if they are red and swollen, remnants of tears still left around his eyes on his cheek, Jeno really believes he’s the luckiest boy in the world

“I love you”

Panic rises in Jeno’s throat when Jaemin shows no reaction at all to his words and he thinks Jaemin is either going to push him away or start crying again. Jaemin does neither of those things

Instead he reaches to grab Jeno’s face and gracelessly pull him forward until their lips meet

 

 

Lee Jeno is an anomaly

After 16 years of nothing, only to have over a year of bad luck, his good luck charm ends up being a _person_

Lee Jeno not only finds his good luck charm, but wins a regional championship, wins MVP and wins the heart of Na Jaemin all in one afternoon


End file.
